Keisai Eisen (渓斎英泉, 1790–1848) was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk t ...

'' artist who specialised in ''

bijin-ga is a generic term for pictures of beautiful women () in Japanese art, especially in woodblock printing of the ukiyo-e genre. Definition defines as a picture that simply "emphasizes the beauty of women", and the ''Shincho Encyclopedia o ...

'' (pictures of beautiful women). His best works, including his ''

ōkubi-e An is a Japanese portrait print or painting in the ukiyo-e genre showing only the head or the head and upper torso. Katsukawa Shunkō I (1743–1812) is generally credited with producing the first ōkubi-e. He, along with Katsukawa Shunshō ...

'' ("large head pictures"), are considered to be masterpieces of the "decadent"

Bunsei was a after ''Bunka'' and before ''Tenpō''. This period spanned the years from April 1818 through December 1830. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * April 22, 1818 (): The new era name was created to mark the enthronement of the emper ...

Era (1818–1830). He was also known as Ikeda Eisen, and wrote under the name of Ippitsuan.

Biography

Eisen was born in Edo into the Ikeda family, the son of a noted

calligrapher Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

. He was apprenticed to Kanō Hakkeisai, from whom he took the name Keisai, and after the death of his father he studied under

Kikugawa Eizan is a city located in the western portion of Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 48,484 in 17,916 households, and a population density of 510 persons per km². The total area of the city is . The city is known ...

. His initial works reflected the influence of his mentor, but he soon developed his own style. He produced a number of ''

surimono are a genre of Japanese woodblock print. They were privately commissioned for special occasions such as the New Year. Surimono literally means "printed thing". Being produced in small numbers for a mostly educated audience of ''literati'', ...

'' (prints that were privately issued), erotic prints, and landscapes, including ''

The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō The or ''Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Road'', is a series of ''ukiyo-e'' works created by Utagawa Hiroshige and Keisai Eisen. There are 71 total prints in the series (one for each of the 69 post stations and Nihonbashi; Nakatsugawa-juku ha ...

'', which he started and which was completed by

Hiroshige Utagawa Hiroshige (, also ; ja, 歌川広重 ), born Andō Tokutarō (; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his horizontal-format l ...

. Eisen is most renowned for his ''bijin-ga'' (pictures of beautiful women) which portrayed the subjects as more worldly than those depicted by earlier artists, replacing their grace and elegance with a less studied sensuality. He produced many portraits and full-length studies depicting the fashions of the time. In addition to producing a prolific number of prints, he was a writer, producing biographies of the

Forty-seven Ronin 47 (forty-seven) is the natural number following 46 and preceding 48. It is a prime number. In mathematics Forty-seven is the fifteenth prime number, a safe prime, the thirteenth supersingular prime, the fourth isolated prime, and the sixth L ...

and several books, including a continuation of the ''

Ukiyo-e Ruiko Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk ...

'' (''History of Prints of the Floating World''), a book which documented the lives of the ''ukiyo-e'' artists. His supplement is known as "Notes of a Nameless Old Man." He describes himself as a dissolute hard-drinker and claims to have been the owner of a brothel in Nezu in the 1830s which had burned down.

Gallery

Keisai Eisen - Oiran.jpg, Courtesan, Keisai Eisen - Wasserdrachen.jpg, Water dragon, MET DP141354.jpg, Winter landscape Signatures of Keisai Eisen reading from left to right- 'Eisen ga', 'Keisai', and 'Keisai Eisen ga'.jpg, Signatures of Keisai Eisen reading from left to right: "Eisen ''ga''" (英泉　画), "Keisai" (渓斎), and "Keisai Eisen ''ga''" (渓斎　英泉　画)

External links

Keisai Eisen
by Honolulu Museum of Art

References

* * * Rasch, Carsten: Keisai Eisen, Berlin 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Keisai, Eisen 1790 births 1848 deaths Ukiyo-e artists